Hair gripping fastener



March 12, 1935. W H HERMSDQRF 1,994,248

HAIR GRIPPING FASTENER Filed May 22, 1955 7: Z (Q7. k7

l|muli-lI-HIIIIHII-IIIIIIIMI-lllllH-llllllllllilml-l! J?? del 7? fo 71' @y w26/M Patented Mar. l2, 1935Y Y PATENT OFFICE HAIR GRrPPING FASTENER Walter H. Hermsdorf, Chicago, Ill., assgnor to Chain Store Products Corporation, Chicago, lll., a corporation of DelawareV Application May 22, 1933, Serial No. 672,170

1 Claim. (Cl. 132-50) This invention relates to improvements in hair gripping fasteners and refers specifically to the provision of a fastener construction which offers increased resistance to bending `at the return 5 bend portion thereof together with stiffened leg portions whereby said legs are normally maintained in contact with each other under maximum pressure. Y Y f Y The advantages of hair gripping fasteners'are fully set forth in the patents to Goldberg No. 1,732,808, and Goldberg et al., No. 1,799,510 and are also well recognized by the art. My invention is an improvement in hair gripping fasteners over those shown in the above mentioned patents.

The utility, objects and advantages of v my invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawing and following detail description.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the use of the hair gripping fastener.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of thehair gripping fastener of the .present invention.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 1 indicates one leg of a hair gripping fastener, connected by means of a U-bend 2 to lan opposite leg 3. Leg 3 may be crimped, as shown at 4, intermediate its length, and the end 5 may bend upwardly away from leg l in order to provide a finger grip, whereby said legs may be sprung away from each other when the user applies the fastener to the hair. Normally, a portion of said legs may be in contact with each other, as shown in Fig. 2.

The fastener may be constructed of resilient material, such as metal or the like and each leg may be of the same'thickness throughout substantially its entire length. In addition, each leg may be the same Width throughout its length,

- the width of each leg being greater than its thickness and the thickness and'width of both legs being substantially equal. The U-bend 2 connecting V legs l and 3 may be of substantially rectangular cross section, and the width of the material at the Ubend may be less than the width of the legs and the thickness of the material at the U-bend may be greater than the thickness of the legs.

Contrary to expectations, when Ythe legs of av hair gripping fastener are flexed to separate the same, preparatory to inserting the fastener in the hair, the flexing takes place substantially entirely in the legs, the U-bend remaining substantially Vunaltered in shape. If the U-bend wereto materially change in shape or be strained during the flexing operation, the material at the U-bend would become fatigued, and legs 1 and 3 would not return into contact with each other. This is particularly the case because of the abruptness or small radius of curvature of the bend.

Consequently, by forming the material at the Ll-bend 2 of greater thickness than the remaining portion of the fastener, said U-bend tends to remain unaltered in shape when flexing of the legs v 1 and 3 takes place, and permits a wide separation of said legs.

It can readily be seen, therefore'that the force tending to return legs 1 and 3 into contact and, hence, the force tending to hold the hair in place, assuming no substantial change in shape at U- bend 2, isV dependent upon the resilient character of thev legs. thickness of metal constituting the blank of the fastener, a U-bend may be provided-having maxi- Y mum rigidity, connecting legs which have maximum resiliency and permit uniform bending throughout their entire length. This, of course, results in a substantially equal grip of the hair throughout the length of the fastener.

In addition, for a fastener constructed inthe form of my present invention having equal gripping power to those shown in the Goldberg Patent No. 1,732,808, a material reduction in the size of the blank material may be made. This results in an economic advantage incident to the cost of manufacture and also results in a small, less conspicuous fastener which, of course, is desirable to the wearer.

I claim as my invention:

A hair gripping fastener constructed of resilient Consequently, for a predetermined Y material comprising two opposed legs, one of which is crimped, a portion of said legs being normally in contact with each other, a U-bend cony necting said legs and forming a unitary structure, said legs beingV substantially rectangular in crosssection and being of uniform width and thickness throughout their length, the U-bend being substantially rectangular in cross-section and being `of greater thickness and lesser width than, the legs.

WALTER ILHERMSDORF. 

